Normalize Progressive-WebApps
this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2025
1272 points (99.2% liked)
Comic Strips
19772 readers
2700 users here now
Comic Strips is a community for those who love comic stories.
The rules are simple:
- The post can be a single image, an image gallery, or a link to a specific comic hosted on another site (the author's website, for instance).
- The comic must be a complete story.
- If it is an external link, it must be to a specific story, not to the root of the site.
- You may post comics from others or your own.
- If you are posting a comic of your own, a maximum of one per week is allowed (I know, your comics are great, but this rule helps avoid spam).
- The comic can be in any language, but if it's not in English, OP must include an English translation in the post's 'body' field (note: you don't need to select a specific language when posting a comic).
- Politeness.
- AI-generated comics aren't allowed.
- Adult content is not allowed. This community aims to be fun for people of all ages.
Web of links
- !linuxmemes@lemmy.world: "I use Arch btw"
- !memes@lemmy.world: memes (you don't say!)
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Amazon and LinkedIn. So annoying.
App? You mean the website with DRM and no interoperability?
Instead of opening your 200MB web browser to see this page, can I interest you in this 200MB separate app to see this web page embedded in a data collection app?
- Panel 5 : Forced Desktop Mode "Hey, it's me, a totally different person!"
- Panel 6 : -> Panel 1.
My bank wont let me open an account in the web browser. I either have to use their shitty banking app or go in person to a branch 10 miles away (they closed all the local branches)
What ? Switch banks
Your bank sucks. Get a credit union.
how would a credit union help here?
I'm currently in a whole thing with the marketing team where we're basically forced to do an app version of our website because bookmarks just aren't done that well in mobile browsers. If you make the user install an app, then it'll be on their home screen and they'll be more likely to return to your site, whereas if you're web-only there's a chance they'll forget about you after the first visit.
It's going to cost us tens of thousands to develop the mobile app, $100/year for Apple's developer fee, and 30% of our subscription revenue, all whilst providing no actual technical benefits or making it easier for the user.
Apple and Google have made billions of dollars just off the back of nothing more than websites wanting to have their link appear on the mobile's home screen.
Late stage capitalism. It's all rent seeking, all the way down.
Just make your website a progressive web app, then the end user can install it just like a native app and you skip all the BS that a native app needs. And only one platform to support.
I don’t think Apple let you put PWAs in the App Store, and the install process for mobile is deliberately awkward for a regular user.
Also AIUI they also don’t allow push notifications for PWAs, which is another thing marketing teams are really keen to have. It’s truly a race to the bottom.
You are right that iOS has some limitations, which I guess could be a deal breaker, but I've personally found it to be a great middle ground for most use cases. And android works amazing with them, so I guess it mostly depends on your target demographic. I've just used it in the past and it's worked great for me.
You can put bookmarks on your Home Screen.
load more comments
(4 replies)
And the app is just the mobile website in a sandboxed web browser.
Yeah, but in the backend, they can now better track you.
Correct.
Because everyone needs 47 different versions of chrome installed in their phones :D
FWIW I do believe that if they rely on a WebView it doesn't actually bundle the browser back.
Sandboxed, you say? So no adblock without a pi-hole-ish solution? Sold!
Adguard DNS tends to block ads in apps pretty well in my experience.
looks inside
shitty frontend for the website
And requires access to your contacts and precise location for some reason.
Isolated dummy contacts and fake geolocation.
Yes, Chinese company I am the king, can't you see how my eScooter is parked at the royal residence 24/7?
looks inside website
It’s a Wordpress wrapper over an autogenerated CSS wrapper on their 2002 website written in HTML-1 and Perl. On Angelfire.
when you use their "app" but it still asks you to install the app..
The app login launches the browser to handle the login, since the app is just a front end for the webpage.
I block 99% of all trackers and social media.
I can't even order a fucking pizza online.
fuck this commercial world.
It's a fucking war zone...
Wait, what app are you using?
I use duckduckgo browser. It has an App tracker blocker.
Lots of these trackers and advertisers will happily serve you literal malware. It’s not safe to browse unprotected.
24k sweet baby Jesus they want yer precious bodily fluids m8.
load more comments
(9 replies)
As someone who uses a Linux phone, this becomes more and more true everyday
As someone that doesn't want to give my IMEI, location, and list of installed apps to anyone that asks, same here.
I consider your request to download your app as a hostile act.
Your link format needs to be parentheses () instead of curly brackets {}
Me: Where's the menu?
Waiter: "In our app."
Me: Guess I'll starve.
Pfft. A waitress of a restaurant in Universal park Osaka told me that their physical menu is inside their restaurant, and I noped the heck out and ate a slice of pizza instead. If I had to use a digital menu for no good reason I would really rather starve.
load more comments
(5 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
Maybe it's not so much the business as the consumer. Commented before on travelling to a new client's shop and having the employees asking for an app to access their payroll.
Told the manager that our site would automatically optimize for phone, works great as-is.
"These people are not going to understand that unless they can download an app."
"No problem. I'll show everyone how to put a shortcut on their home screen. Done! I'll even write up directions for Android and Apple."
<manager shaking her head>
Understand, a load of these people were illiterate, embarrassed to need help filling out the online hiring docs.
If this was your experience as a business, would you not wrap your site in an app and push it? Plus, imagine the talk, "Yeah, site's OK but they don't have an app."
That's understandable, but not the point of the comic.
Some sites don't just off apps but require them for service.
I read fan translated stories. I tried the paid officially licensed website. Forced app. Tried it. DRM bullshit. Can't even download a chapter. Tried website on desktop.
Website literally told me to get a phone and the app...
They never saw another penny from me. I started donating to fan translations groups and just using machine translations.
Edit: name and shame.
I forget the stupid name but webtoon.com got into web novels and it was the absolute worst experience. The translation was fine but slow, extremely expensive and loaded with DRM. If I "unlock" something to read I'd like to download a copy.
To hell with your "you own nothing" business model. Shit I could buy physical copies of books for cheaper than their crap.
view more: next ›